| Abstract: | The direction and level of changes in real incomes brought aboutby structural adjustment are determined by a variety of factors,including sources of income, patterns of expenditures, and movementsin relative prices in the wake of adjustment. An econometricmodel is used to derive an index of real income, which is employedfor data from Côte d'lvoire, Ghana, Malawi, Madagascar,and Tanzania. No systematic changes in relative prices, andespecially in the ratio of tradable to nontradable prices, werenoted after the beginning of adjustment, although the diversityof income sources implies that the implications of movementsin relative prices on smallholder welfare are indeed complex.The results indicate that there is no unequivocal pattern ofincrease or decline in the real welfare of the rural poor butthat there are marked differences among countries and regions. |
